Platform Notification Service

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Platform Notification Service

Platform Notification Service (PNS) enables server-to-server communication by allowing the Platform to send messages, known as Notices, to Tools outside the scope of an active user session. Tools can register a "webhook" or handler endpoint using PNS to receive specific types of Notices, facilitating seamless integration and automation.

See also endpoint-level documentation and Official (1EdTech) documentation.

Tool Configuration

Make sure the tool has the required https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/scope/noticehandlers scope.

Dynamic Registration

Manual Registration

Registering Notice Handlers

To register a Notice Handler (webhook), the tool has to call the platform notification service endpoint. The endpoint URL is advertised in every LTI launch in the https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/platformnotificationservice claim:

...
 "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/platformnotificationservice": {
    "service_versions": [
      "1.0"
    ],
    "platform_notification_service_url": "http://canvas-web.inseng.test/api/lti/notice-handlers/106",
    "scope": [
      "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/scope/noticehandlers"
    ],
    "notice_types_supported": [
      "LtiHelloWorldNotice",
      "LtiAssetProcessorSubmissionNotice",
      "LtiContextCopyNotice"
    ]
  },
...

Register the notice handler:

PUT http://canvas-web.inseng.test/api/lti/notice-handlers/106
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <LTI Advantage token>

{
"notice_type": "LtiContextCopyNotice",
"handler": "http://lti-13-test-tool.inseng.test/notice_handlers/106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb"
}

Response:

{
    "notice_type": "LtiContextCopyNotice",
    "handler": "http://lti-13-test-tool.inseng.test/notice_handlers/106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb"
}

Get registered notice handlers:

GET http://canvas-web.inseng.test/api/lti/notice-handlers/106
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <LTI Advantage token>

Response:

{
    "client_id": 10000000000068,
    "deployment_id": "106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb",
    "notice_handlers": [
        {
            "notice_type": "LtiContextCopyNotice",
            "handler": "http://lti-13-test-tool.inseng.test/notice_handlers/106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb"
        },
        { 
            "notice_type": "LtiHelloWorldNotice", 
            "handler": "" 
        }
    ]
}

Notes:

• Use LTI Advantage token for authentication.

• You can have only one notice handler for a given notice type.

• You can remove the notice handler by setting "" as a handler.

• Notice handler endpoint must be public, without any authentication.

• Notice handler domain must match the domain of the tool.

• Canvas does not retry delivery of a notice if the notice handler is unavailable.

Receiving Notices

Canvas sends notices with POST to the registered handlers. The body contains an array of notices. Every notice is a signed JWT. Example body:

{
    "notices": [
        {
            "jwt": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjIwMjUtMDItMDFUMDE6MTY6NDNaXzMwMTg2ODVkLTA1YjctNDNjYi1iODY1LTAyN2VlYzM1MjcxNCJ9.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.Qi3_cSpe_3emC1fFMhJwOMLsMcBxEDkU5R0KtD5GAs_o3fWCT9CJ1ouyt_sO0XOrYczSpA2Y7RLnfi6ey7HI7Gf28lbvONwsbh-I-PWDkxmlVhchnnHJeDn3Z5hJMe1KlJzbXMI2Ee1LaYQkXbEe0wWJGMbnVKYm_YOVRe0sD0g18iDgSXBlAFCTQxAxuzjNAkMQXtc3KroMAaoj8kEu4yDGvGot0mUs-CBcDCFAx2_AOMczBqQ5HXmgExv8qYBYl89Q1KyyqIPt0jbQqmkwZgLayOxuDJ6_Viqsy78Iywabxk__XZsNvbTB4IeSYReiwGs4MFMbWUgol_h4hRwg6A"
        }
    ]
}

LtiContextCopyNotice

LtiContextCopyNotice is sent to registered notice handlers when course content is imported to a new or existing course.

Example notice content:

{
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/version": "1.3.0",
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/notice": {
    "id": "7a70e604-5b2e-4013-b628-4806228999f1",
    "timestamp": "2025-03-19T11:24:25Z",
    "type": "LtiContextCopyNotice"
  },
  "aud": "10000000000068",
  "azp": "10000000000068",
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/deployment_id": "106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb",
  "exp": 1742387069,
  "iat": 1742383469,
  "iss": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
  "nonce": "2d220edf-2f1c-4be4-b38e-ec80b1c6749d",
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/context": {
    "id": "4dde05e8ca1973bcca9bffc13e1548820eee93a3",
    "label": "zzz",
    "title": "zzz",
    "type": [
      "http://purl.imsglobal.org/vocab/lis/v2/course#CourseOffering"
    ]
  },
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/origin_contexts": [
    "5098686ffc86cae4e0784b533a18af229ff5074e"
  ]
}

Claims

context: metadata about the new LTI Context (Course)

origin_contexts: array with 1 element: LTI Context id of the source course

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This documentation is generated directly from the Canvas LMS source code, available on Github.